


When in Rome

by Kuraagins



Category: Frühlings Erwachen | Spring Awakening - Frank Wedekind, Spring Awakening - Sheik/Sater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anna and Matha are dating but it's not explicit you can interpret them as friends if you want, F/F, M/M, School Trip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 15:17:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14571792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kuraagins/pseuds/Kuraagins
Summary: "Ernst was lucky he was so damn cute and that Hanschen was completely head over heels for him. Otherwise there would have been no way he would have woken up at 3AM to get to school at 4AM for a 13 hour drive all the way to Rome."





	When in Rome

**Author's Note:**

> The hot weather and nostalgia for my school trip to Rome three years ago inspired me to write this. Also 90% of this is based on stuff that actually happened - hope you enjoy!

Ernst was lucky he was so damn cute and that Hanschen was completely head over heels for him. Otherwise there would have been no way he would have woken up at 3AM to get to school at 4AM for a 13 hour drive all the way to Rome. 

“Please come on the trip with me Hanschen! I’ll be all on my own if you don’t!” His boyfriend had begged.

“Ernst literally all of our friends are going on this trip. I should be the one begging you to stay here so I’m not on my own.” Hanschen retorted.

“I’ve been saving for three years to be able to afford this one school trip! Please Hansi, there’s no point in me going if you’re not there with me,”

And all Ernst had to do from there was flutter his pretty eyelashes and Hanschen was putty in his hands. 

Hanschen’s parents didn’t mind at all paying for him to go on the trip, which was surprising considering they were already paying for Thea and Melitta, but Hanschen just supposed that was one of the many benefits of having the owner of 7 local restaurants as a father. They probably would have paid for Ernst too (the Rilow parents treated Ernst as if he were their own son) if they had known he was paying for the trip out of his own pocket, but Hanschen knew he would never had taken the money. 

Which meant that Hanschen would just have to spend all of his money spoiling his boyfriend on the trip to make up for it. Of course, that didn’t mean that he had completely forgiven Ernst for making him wake up at 3AM. But as he looked over at the small boy – who had already fallen asleep again despite the coach only setting off five minutes prior – who’s head was lying delicately on his shoulder, he decided that it would be far too much effort to stay huffy with him. Especially when he looked so good in those short shorts. 

At the back of the bus, Melchior had already struck up an argument about representation with Georg in a comic book that Moritz had pulled out to read for the long journey. Nearby; Anna, Thea and Melitta were belting out some cheesy pop song that was popular on the radio at the moment, with Martha and Wendla sitting next to them and smiling politely even though they had no idea what on earth they were singing. The coach in general was full of loud 15-year olds who for some reason behaved like they had downed 8 energy drinks before they had clambered onto the coach – and if he was being honest, Melchior probably had. He slightly envied the sleeping boy on his shoulder as he watched Herr Sonnenstich, Fraulein Knuppeldick and Fraulein Grossenbustenhalter cringe at the noise level, but he decided that plugging his headphones in and ignoring it all would work just as well. 

At eight AM they stopped at a service station for breakfast. Hanschen gently nudged Ernst, who opened his eyes almost immediately, making him wonder if he had actually been asleep at all. The 50 pupils on the trip scrambled to get out of the coach and were thrilled to be given free range of the service station (so long as they were in groups of no less than three) for all of twenty minutes. 

Ignoring the ‘groups of three’ rule, Hanschen and Ernst strolled into the service station by themselves, their hands linked together. Ernst pulled his wallet out of the pocket of his jeans and furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the measly amount of coins in there. 

“I think I’ll probably just get an iced coffee,” Ernst said, trying not to sound at all disappointed, “I want to save most of my money for when we get to Rome.”

As he drifted towards the Costa, Hanschen lightly touched his arm to get his attention. “I’m gonna go and get some snacks. I’ll be as quick as I can and meet up with you back here,”

Ernst only had time to nod before Hanschen was dashing off to get a bag full of Ernst’s favourite snacks as quickly as humanly possible, as to not leave the boy alone for too long. Of course, as Hanschen was shovelling Oreos and Pringles and M&Ms into his arms, he turned around to see Ernst being scolded by Fraulein Grossenbustenhalter. 

“What did we say about staying in groups of three Ernst?” She talked down to him, before leading the red-faced boy to go and sit with the teachers. 

Feeling terrible for being the one responsible for Ernst getting into trouble, Hanschen rushed to find the other boys as soon as he finished paying for his food. He stalked into the McDonalds where he found the rest of the boys. No one even had time to greet him before he pulled Moritz up by his arm and declared: “We’re going to go and save Ernst.” Offering no further explanation, Hanschen tugged a very confused Moritz over to the seats where Ernst was being held captive by their teachers. 

“We’re very sorry for leaving Ernst on his own,” Hanschen apologised in his best kiss-ass voice, “But we’re back now. So, if Ernst could just come with us we’ll be a group of three again,” He gave the teachers the signature Rilow grin, hoping that he was being charming enough for them to release Ernst out of their grip. 

Fraulein Knuppeldick looked the two boys over once before stating, “However sorry you may be Mr Rilow, yourself and Mr Steifel still came over here to get Mr Robel in only a pair, meaning that you two have broken the rule as well.” She made a swift motion for the two to sit down with them, Hanschen’s charming smile falling and Moritz letting out an exasperated sigh. 

The next fifteen minutes passed with Ernst looking apologetically over at Hanschen and Moritz, the latter of which was glaring at the former for not only dragging him away from his friends and his boyfriend, but his chicken nuggets as well. And God help anyone that takes Moritz away from his nuggets. Melchior would surely save them for his boyfriend to eat on the coach though right? Hanschen sure hoped that Melchior would be that thoughtful, for his own sake. 

When the teachers announced that it was time for them to get back on the coach, they managed to get about half way through the front entranced before Ernst looked at Hanschen with horror, before thrusting his backpack towards his boyfriend and turning around and sprinting as fast as he could, yelling something along the lines of: “I LEFT MY WALLET!”

Hanschen stood, frozen on the spot and unsure whether he should follow Ernst and risk getting into more trouble or wait for Ernst on the bus so that they wouldn’t drive off without him (Hanschen had heard of such things happening on school trips before). He decided that the latter would be a better option, that judgement being assisted by an irritated Fraulein Knuppeldick shouting, “Hurry up please, Mr Rilow!”

As Hanschen fell back into his seat on the coach two miracles happened. One: Melchior actually had the foresight to think about someone other than himself and had saved the remainder of Moritz’s nuggets for him. Two: Ernst Robel propelled himself up into the coach and bolted to his seat without any of the teachers noticing his lateness and before they had tried to begin a headcount. 

Hanschen quickly moved out of the way so that Ernst could sit back in his window seat as inconspicuously as possible. Ernst always got the window seat – that was just a fact of their relationship. 

“Did you get your wallet back?” Hanschen asked his out of breath boyfriend, who held the item up with a grin.

“Luckily, the lady at the counter had seen me leave it and held onto it for me,” he panted. 

Smiling at Ernst, he planted a sweet kiss on his cheek before looking at his knees bashfully. “I’m sorry for leaving you on your own and getting you into trouble,” Hanschen apologised.

“It’s okay, Hansi. Really.” Ernst insisted, taking his boyfriend’s hand and kissing his cheek in return. 

“Will this make it up to you?” Hanschen pulled up his bag and opened it up to show Ernst the treats he had bought for him. 

“Hansi! You shouldn’t have bought this much!” Ernst scolded, but Hanschen could see the blush spreading across his cheeks. 

“It’s all your favourites though Ernst, I got them just for you. Unless of course you want help eating them in which case, I’d be more than happy to help,” He grinned. 

Ernst laughed softly and pulled Hanschen into an awkward side hug that didn’t really work because they were sat down on a coach, but Hanschen appreciated the gesture regardless. “I love you,” He sighed softly, and he looked so pretty looking at him like that, the morning sun illuminating his face, that Hanschen just had to whip out his phone and take a picture. 

Ernst rolled his eyes and said “If you put that on your Instagram I’ll kill you,”

“Of course not, darling,” Hanschen insisted, feigning hurt. But of course, he was going to put this on his Instagram and like the past ten times that exact conversation had happened, Ernst would pout and call him mean even though he was secretly thrilled that Hanschen’s Instagram was basically just him gushing over Ernst. In fact, Hanschen’s Instagram was aptly named ‘Ernst Robel Fan Account’. The only pictures he ever posted were of Ernst, from candid shots to selfies of them together, every picture he posted was captioned with an abundance of heart emojis. And as much as it flustered Ernst, he hated to admit that he thought it was the sweetest thing ever. 

\----------

They got into Rome just before eight PM, and of course the bus had to break down a mile away from the hotel. 

“Partner up with who you want to room with and when we get to the hotel we’ll sort you into rooms of twos, fours and eights,” Fraulein Knuppeldick announced to them, “And I’ll just remind you again that we’ll have no boys rooming with girls and vice versa. We came on this trip with 50 pupils and we will not be coming back with 51!”

“Oh yeah because a gay boy and a lesbian are really going to be having loads of furious sex if they were to share a hotel room,” Moritz muttered to himself as he got off the bus, munching on half a packet of peanut butter Oreos that Ernst had given to him. He had been so excited to share a room with Wendla, but once the teachers had made it clear that they were not going to allow the genders to mix, Moritz had been more than annoyed. 

“To be fair Moritz, these teachers are ancient. I’m not even sure they know what homosexuality is they’ve been so sheltered with their views,” Melchior joked, trying to cheer up his boyfriend. 

“It’s just not fair!” He whined, “Why do they have to spoil everyone’s fun just because they’re so scared of sex.” 

“Oh no - two boys who happen to be dating alone together in a hotel room, whatever will we do about that Moritz?” Melchior sighed dramatically. 

“Alright, alright, I get it that you’re not exactly upset that my rooming plans were spoiled,”

“I’m just saying Mortiz, you won’t be having furious sex with Wendla but you could be having furious sex with me,” he cocked an eyebrow. 

“Don’t speak too loud or else Fraulein Knuppeldick definitely won’t give us a double room,” Moritz was only half joking, “I don’t have high hopes for us anyway considering she already hates my guts.”

“If it makes you feel any better Ritzy, she hates my guts too,” Melchior grinned.

“That’s supposed to make me feel better?” Moritz laughed. 

They walked along the pavement as close to each other as possible. Moritz’s hand brushed against Melchior’s but he didn’t hold it, not properly. He wanted to be as open with his affection as Hanschen and Ernst were to each other but he was scared of what other people would think. What his dad might think. He hated Melchior enough as it was, Moritz couldn’t imagine what he would say if he knew that Melchior was his boyfriend. Luckily, Melchior was patient and understanding with him, knowing that Moritz wasn’t comfortable enough for anyone outside of their close friendship group to know that he was gay, despite how blatant Melchior was about his own bisexuality. 

As they walked, taking in the sights of the beautiful city, Melchior was giving commentary on the hotels they were passing, trying to guess which one they would be staying in. “It could be that one,” He pointed to a nice but modest white building with a quaint restaurant outside. “It doesn’t look too expensive, but then again, it looks like the kind of place rich white people go to have affairs so maybe it’s just outside of the school’s budget,” 

“Melchior your idea of ‘within the school’s budget’ is a ditch in the middle of nowhere,” Anna interjected. 

“Would I be wrong though?” He teased.

“Probably not,” Anna sighed, “All I’m saying is, I spent over €1000 on this trip and that was the only decent hotel we’ve seen so far,”

“You mean your parents spent over €1000 on this trip.”

“Gabor, I don’t care if we’re in one of the most gorgeous cities in the world I will drop kick you if you keep being a smart-arse,” She told him, before falling back to link arms with Martha. 

Melchior threw her a cheeky grin before focusing his attention on the path ahead. “Oh my God Moritz, imagine if we had to stay there!” He laughed, pointing out a yellowing building with dirty windows and the ‘H’ from the ‘Hotel’ sign missing. Moritz bit his lip, anticipating the worst, and it was confirmed as Melchior’s laughter quickly died down and Herr Sonnenstich slowed to a halt in front of the ‘otel’. 

“Well boys and girls, this is where we’ll be staying for the next few days!” 

\----------

On their first evening in the city, the students went out for dinner at a small café near a small church a half an hour walk from their hotel. Wendla was never one to complain and she had to admit, the hotel wasn’t as bad as everyone was making it out to be. Sure, it wasn’t much to look at on the outside and the room that she was sharing with five other girls on the trip wasn’t as big as the space needed for six teenage girls living together, but overall it wasn’t an unpleasant place to live. The beds were comfortable enough and it wasn’t too hot or too cold, nor was there bugs or dirt to be found anywhere. Plus, the WIFI worked some of the time, and really, when you’re on a school trip what more can you ask for apart from that? 

The girls were sat at a table, enjoying the cooler evening air. Wendla and Martha nibbled at the pastries they had gotten, whilst the others enjoyed their proper meals. Wendla wasn’t hungry because she had spent the whole day eating junk food that she had been buying whenever they stopped off at a service station (and that had been supplied by Ernst who had been sharing the ridiculous amount of food that Hanschen had bought him with everyone) whereas Martha just never seemed to have a large appetite. Most of the time it was the case that Anna would have to buy her food at school just so she would remember to eat. 

“I think I should buy Georg one of those magnets,” Wendla spoke, mostly to herself as she eyed up a gift shop across the street. 

Thea looked at her pointedly, “Wendla, Georg is literally on this trip he can buy his own fridge magnet,” 

“I know but it says ‘al dente’ on it! Georg and I have an inside joke about that from when we had food tech together last year,” Wendla explained. 

“You’re so thoughtful Wendla,” Melitta giggled, “But Thea’s right, Georg can buy his own fridge magnet.” 

Before Wendla could reply, she was distracted by a loud: “Oh my god!” Coming from Anna. Whipping her head around to see what she (and now all the other girls were staring at) Wendla’s jaw dropped as she watched a young woman with chopped short hair and a long white dress saunter towards the café. 

“Ilse!” Wendla exclaimed, bolting from her seat to greet her girlfriend, who had broken into wide smile upon seeing Wendla. As she tackled Ilse into a hug, the older girl lifted her off the ground and spun her around. “What on earth are you doing here?” She cried, quickly adding: “Not that I mind of course, this is amazing!”

“Just because I graduated last year doesn’t mean that I can’t coincidentally come to Italy and stay in the same hotel and do the same activities at the same time as my girlfriend,” Ilse grinned. 

“You really came all this way for me?” Wendla beamed. 

“You said you wanted me here, so here I am!” Ilse gestured to herself before allowing the small girl to drag her playfully to sit with her and the other girls. “Moritz helped, of course,” She explained, before being pulled into fierce hugs by everyone, who had missed her dearly. As she picked chips off Anna’s plate (who couldn’t even complain because she hadn’t seen Ilse in forever) she spoke to Wendla. “By the way, I really am staying in the same hotel as you, and if you ever want to come up to my room-“ 

“Yes!” Wendla answered before Ilse could even finish speaking. She looked around, checking to make sure the girl she was about to speak of wasn’t within earshot. “Between you and me,” She confided, lowering her voice, “I love these girls to bits, but Heather – the other girl in our room – is the worst.”

Ilse chuckled, always finding it hilarious when her sweet girlfriend who was friends with everyone mentioned disliking someone. “Well you know I’ll always be happy to spend time with you, sweetheart,” 

“Good, because trust me, I’ll be needing a lot of time away from her,” Wendla kissed her girlfriend chastely before tucking back into her pastry, occasionally pausing to feed bits to Ilse. 

\----------

“Please swap with us Hanschen! I’ll do anything,” Melchior begged, standing outside of Hanschen and Ernst’s hotel room with a blushing Moritz stood by him. 

“As tempting as it is to have you run laps naked around the school field when we get back in exchange for this room, I’m afraid I’m not going to pass up the opportunity to spend five nights alone with my boyfriend in one of the most beautiful cities in the world so that you can bang your boyfriend and we have to listen to Otto’s snoring all night.” Hanschen shrugged. Normally, this is where Ernst would step in to keep the peace. He and Wendla were the only ones that could cool arguments between Hanschen and Melchior, but Ernst was fully on Hanschen’s side on this one. Moritz may be his best friend but this was a stroke of luck too good to give up. 

“I’ll buy you lunch for a month, I’ll do your homework until summer – come on there’s got to be something I can do to make you swap rooms with us!”

“You laugh at me for being a kiss-ass Melchior but if you were like me then maybe you wouldn’t be begging at my door right now,” Hanschen baited. 

“Oh fuck you Hanschen-“

“No fuck you Melchior!”

As the two began to argue and yell insults over each other Ernst huffed and decided that it wasn’t worth giving the pair one more thing to bicker over during the next few days; there was already a million and one things that they would be fighting over anyway. 

“We’ll swap with you on the third night,” Ernst sighed, moving to the doorframe from his bed where he was unpacking his things. 

“What?” Hanschen exclaimed. 

“And that is why your boyfriend is far too good for you,” Melchoir jabbed a finger towards Hanschen before stalking away. 

“Thanks Ernst,” Moritz smiled, “Melchior is thankful too, but uh, he forgets his courtesies sometimes in the heat of the moment, you know how it is,” he explained before sighing exhaustedly and hurrying off to catch up with his boyfriend. 

“He forgets his fucking courtesies alright. What the hell, Ernst?” Hanschen cried as Ernst closed the door to their hotel room.

“It’s one night Hansi,” Ernst rolled his eyes, petting Hanschen’s hair just the way he liked and pulling him in for a soft kiss. “Plus, it saves you from getting an earful about it from Melchior every time you see him. Which is going to be a lot considering we’re in a foreign country with him.” 

Hanschen relaxed into Ernst’s touch and sighed contentedly, “Honestly? Keep touching my hair like that and I’ll let you get away with anything.”

“You already do,” Ernst teased, pulling Hanschen in for another kiss. Hanschen moved his hands to rest on Ernst’s hips and their lips moved together in slow, languid movements as they stood by the door of their dimly lit hotel room. Ernst made a soft noise before pulling away and leading Hanschen deeper into the room. “So, are you gonna help me push these beds into one super bed or what?”

Grinning, Hanschen moved over to the bed on the left side of the room and sighed, “I love you so much Ernst.”

“I know,” Ernst teased with a shrug. 

They pushed the beds together with little effort - as they weren’t too heavy - and collapsed onto them, the springs creaking loudly as they did, causing Ernst to giggle. Hanschen looked over at his boyfriend wondering how the hell he got so lucky and moved his arm so that they could hold hands. They lay there in comfortable silence for a few minutes, just enjoying each other’s company. Surprisingly, it was Ernst who broke the silence first, not notorious loudmouth Hanschen Rilow. 

“You know, I payed Ilse to bring me a bottle of champagne when she got here,” He stated nonchalantly. 

Hanschen’s face lit up, “Ernst you are seriously the best”

“I know” He smiled sweetly, “And because I’m the best you can go up to her room and get it for us,” 

Hanschen groaned and rolled off the bed dramatically, “I hate you,” 

“Not what you were saying two minutes ago,” Ernst teased, blowing a kiss towards his boyfriend who was playfully glaring at him as he left the room.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm probably gonna write more to this but who knows. Please leave me a comment if you enjoyed and feel free to hmu on tumblr @kuraagins <3


End file.
